What She Is Not
by kiboeme
Summary: Elizabeth Liones is a normal high school girl. She loves her family, gets good grades, and has a crush. Unfortunately, her crush is for a boy who doesn't know she exists. So when Elizabeth is approached by Merlin, her fiercest competition for Meliodas' heart, she enters a bargain that'll give them both the opportunity they want. Elizalin; highschool AU. Complete!
1. Part 1

"Do you think he's wearing a new shirt today?"

From beside me, my sister Veronica sighed heavily. "I don't know, Eli. Only you pay this much attention to him."

"Oh, no, this is one he's had for a while. I've just never seen him dress it up this way," I continued musing, heedless of the irritation in her voice.

My name is Elizabeth Liones. I'm a freshman at Liones High. I have two sisters, both older than me, and my father is the president of our country. I am nothing special, myself, even though I think I am reasonably pretty and certainly not as foolish as some other girls are. My sister Margaret is the super intelligent and kind one, and Veronica is funny and passionate and driven. I have no particular talents, but I do like to care for people when they are ill. But even if I do not feel extraordinary, there is nothing wrong at all with my very ordinary. Everything in my life is very nice, and I'm so grateful for it. All that could be done to improve any of it is if I were dating Meliodas.

Meliodas is two years older than me and in his junior year. He's short, has wonderful green eyes, wild blonde hair that looks very soft to touch, and the warmest smile I've ever seen. He is very fair and friendly to everyone, even the bullies and the people nobody else wants to interact with. I fell in love from a distance with how often he grins and how outgoing he seems to be. I'm not completely sure how it is to really interact with him, though. I've never spoken to him. As far as I am aware, he did not know that I existed. And I constantly warred with myself about whether or not I wanted things to stay that way.

The table I chose for Veronica and I every day had a good, clear view of Meliodas from across the cafeteria, where he sat at a table with a handful of friends. One of them was Gilthunder, my eldest sister Margaret's boyfriend. From here, I could moon over Meliodas from a safe distance – no risk of embarrassment on the chance that he **actually** chose to talk to me for some reason.

"Why on earth have you never spoken to him?!" Veronica asked incredulously.

"Because I'm not like you are!" I protested. "I don't think on my feet quickly enough to make my mistakes look cute or funny, so people just think I'm strange."

 _Besides_ , I continued to myself, _even if I were comfortable trying to talk to him, I couldn't get a word in edgewise_. Meliodas, you see, was always surrounded by his friends and by his girls. I was far from the only one with a crush on him, and most of the others were more eager to express their affection than I was. Meliodas had several girls he liked to hang out with – and I think flirt with.

There was one girl in particular that he seemed to like the most though. The only one other than my own overanxious self that I thought might actually get in the way of my love for Meliodas. Her name was Merlin, and at lunch that day, she was all over him.

Merlin almost always wore really racy outfits. Not in a slutty kind of way— okay, she actually looked **really** slutty most of the time. But somehow, I guess because of the way she carried herself, her near nudity was… classy. It helped her case that despite how many boys couldn't take their eyes off her firm thighs and trim stomach, she never glanced twice at any of them. She only ever paid any attention to one man. Unfortunately for my prospects, that one man was Meliodas.

Veronica nudged my elbow and cleared her throat softly, drawing my eyes away from Merlin's cleavage hovering at his shoulder. When I looked at her, she was frowning.

"You're staring, Eli. Don't be a creep. _Don't blush_ , you'll make it more awkward!"

I pressed my lips together, willing away the heat that crept up my neck, and obediently looked away from my crush. The very _last_ thing I wanted to do was to ruin my dating prospects before they even existed.

"I'm sorry. I just can't stop looking at Merlin. She's so… _competent_. I'm sure Meliodas will just think I'm a foolish little girl if I try to follow that up."

" _Or,_ maybe he'll think it's cute and find you endearing." My head dropped at the tone of her voice – her mild exasperation with me was clear. Veronica was so much more outgoing than I that it confused and frustrated her when I couldn't muster up the courage to act like she would. I felt bad that I was never able to take her advice in situations like this. "You should go talk to him. Both of them, actually."

"Merlin, too?"

Veronica shrugged carelessly. "If you have competition, you may as well know who she is."

No. **Way**. I felt a blush bloom from the back of my neck at the mere _thought_ of how mortifying that interaction would be. My sister noticed it and let out a heavy sigh before shaking her head and going back to her homework.

"Isn't that due in just a couple of hours?" I asked, more than glad for the opportunity to change the topic.

Her reply was unenthusiastic. "Uh- _huh_." Veronica rarely finished all her homework the night before – it was fairly common for her to rush to finish an assignment during lunch like this. She suddenly threw down her pencil and looked at me sternly. "Hey, Ellie, let's make a bargain."

"A bargain?"

"Yeah. If you go over and talk to Meliodas during lunch today, I'll do all my homework on time for a week."

I gasped. Our father always nagged her for not budgeting her time better, and he'd beg me and Margaret to do what we could to motivate Veronica. So far, all our efforts had been in vain. It wasn't that Veronica was incapable of doing her work; she simply didn't want to. Now she was using that as a bargaining chip!

"Veronica, you know I can't do that!" I protested. My sister only shrugged and picked her pencil back up to return to her last-minute crunch work.

"Okay. Fine with me."

We sat in silence for a while. I kept staring at Merlin hovering over Meliodas until she straightened up, flipped her hair, and walked away. _Sauntered_ away, more accurately, with a sway in her hips and a smug smile on her mouth. My cheeks heated up again as envy filled my belly. Getting to know my competition, as Veronica had put it, was a **very** bad idea. But I couldn't just let Merlin walk all over the man I pined for and take him for herself without giving myself a fair chance first.

"Deal," I said softly.

"What's that?" Veronica looked up from her worksheet again, and I repeated myself.

"I said, _deal_. I'll take your deal. Tomorrow I will go talk to him. I'll go talk to Meliodas."

* * *

I realized very quickly that accepting Veronica's bargain had been a mistake. All throughout the rest of that afternoon and the entire morning of the next, Veronica smirked and winked at me every time we passed each other in the hallway. At supper, Father asked her if she had something stuck in her eye.

There was **no** chance that I could escape this.

Meliodas and I shared a free hour during the second period of the day, a fact I'd surreptitiously gathered from Gilthunder when he was over for dinner one time. The two of them usually hung out together in that hour, he'd said, and he believed Merlin had class at that time. I told as much to Veronica when she pestered me to know how I would approach Meliodas; she volunteered to orchestrate a distraction for Gil.

Whatever Veronica did to get rid of him worked. When I crept up near the outdoor spot Gil and Meliodas inhabited on most days, my sister's boyfriend was nowhere to be seen. Meliodas sat alone beneath the big tree.

I withdrew into the safety behind the building wall after only the barest glance at his back, terrified for a moment that the small tilt of his head meant he'd noticed me. All I could do for a moment was press myself to the bricks and shake, my breath coming in frantic pants. Then the panic faded – the world stopped blurring in front of my eyes, and I could inhale fully.

"Your sister Veronica would laugh at you right now, Elizabeth," I told myself in a stern whisper. "She'd ask what you were scared of, and shake her head when you realized there was nothing for you to fear."

Although it did not help my confidence at all, my pep talk to myself _did_ shoo away the last of the trembling and the fright. No harm could possibly come to me, and so I shouldn't be afraid. At worst, I would embarrass myself terribly.

At that thought, my stomach twisted, but I squashed the feeling down. Meeting Meliodas properly and maybe getting a date was worth that risk. This was fine, I reassured myself. This was _fine_.

With my nerves steeled, I rushed around the corner before I could change my mind. My fists clenched at my sides as I approached Meliodas, grabbing fistfuls of my skirt hem as a flimsy sort of anchor. He turned around before I spoke to him, his attention probably drawn by the sound of my footsteps in the grass. At first he seemed a little confused by my presence, as if he were expecting to see someone else walking over, but a jubilant grin spread over his face before I could dissect the first expression. My chest tightened immediately in response.

"Me-Meli—" Only the first two syllables made it out before my throat closed around his name. I'm sure he expected a more coherent greeting than that, but he still didn't miss a beat.

"Hey! You're Elizabeth, right?" I became lightheaded as the oxygen suddenly vanished from the atmosphere around me. I managed a tiny nod, and Meliodas continued. "Margaret's younger sister. Little Gil pointed you out to me while we were talking once."

I finally found my voice. "Oh, yes." I clasped my hands behind my back, lacing the fingers together tightly. "Actually, Margaret and Veronica are my adoptive sisters. I don't have any biological family."

"Gotcha." His slow nodding was suddenly cut off as he sent another beaming smile my way and said: "But hey, sometimes the best family is the one you weren't born with. Blood is thicker than water, and all that. Wanna sit down?"

I nodded mutely and walked over to the spot he patted. With my hands pressed against my bottom to hold my skirt in place, I settled down on the grass beside Meliodas. My swallow stuck in my throat at the realization of how close our bodies were.

"I understand what you mean," I began softly once I sat. I wanted to look at him, but I just couldn't manage to keep my eyes on his face as I continued. "But I think - if you don't mind - I think that saying might not be quite right for what you are talking about…"

The sound of Meliodas laughing made my attention snap straight back to him. He was smiling at me with a little sparkle in his eye. If I hadn't been so anxious, I probably would have melted into a puddle.

"Actually, the shortened version of that saying makes it seem like it means the opposite of what it really does. The long one goes: 'The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.'"

"Blood is thicker than water…" I murmured. I wondered if _he_ had a family he preferred to his biological one. And then I realized - _oh, goddesses_ , I'd tried to correct him when he was _right_. My entire face promptly turned scarlet, and I felt the sting of tears building up behind my eyes. I turned my face away from him and tucked my head against my drawn-up knees to hide them as I apologized. "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to be rude-"

Meliodas cut my blubbering off by laughing again. I felt his warm hand rest softly on my shoulder and jerked upright to look at him again. His smile fell when he noticed my choked-back tears, and he turned around to rummage in his backpack. I hastily wiped the moisture off my cheeks with the backs of my hands while he wasn't looking. Before I'd gotten all of my tears, he returned from his pack and held out a tissue to me.

I took his offering with a tiny sniffle. "Th-thank you, Meliodas."

"Hey, don't worry about it. I don't mind rudeness, and you weren't anyway."

My gaze fell to the grass between us. I wasn't so sure.

" _Trust me_ ," Meliodas continued. "Some of the people I hang out with can be rude for real, and you were nowhere near them. Heck, Merlin straight-up insults me every now and then, and I bet you are kind enough that you don't even _think_ of doing that to a person."

I nodded a little, but did not respond in full. He was right that I would never insult people, and it was nice to know that he thought of me as kind. Why did he have to compare me to _Merlin_ , though? The fact that there was enough room in his mind to be thinking about her even while he and I were right next to each other crushed me.

He took a breath, probably intending to fill my silence with more of his own conversation. Then the sound of the period bell silenced him, saving me.

With a roll and a hop, he somehow managed to put on his backpack and rise to his feet in one seamless motion. I stood up more slowly and more clumsily, still dabbing at the damp redness around my eyes. Meliodas seemed not to notice that as he grinned and waved to me.

"Nice to meet'cha, Elizabeth!" he said over his shoulder as he walked away. I managed a small smile and a smaller wave as he disappeared around a corner with the shout of: "See ya around!"

* * *

At lunch, I made very sure not to sit at my usual table. Instead I chose a spot in the back corner of the cafeteria where I could not see Meliodas, and **he** could not _possibly_ see me. It took Veronica several minutes to find me there. I could tell by her face as soon as she sat down with me that she knew exactly what my new location meant.

"It went that badly, huh?"

I nodded, staring hard at the rice on my plate. "We didn't even have much of a conversation before I started crying."

"Aw, man. _Seriously_ , Elizabeth?"

My eyes began to sting again, and I pressed my lips together tightly for fear that speaking would break the dam on my emotions. Veronica was exasperated on my behalf out of love and wanting the best for me, but sometimes her abrasiveness was just too much. I focused my gaze on one grain of rice, then on the veins of a spinach leaf, willing myself not to cry.

Neither of us spoke for a while. I assume Veronica went back to her food, while I tortured myself replaying the humiliating encounter with Meliodas in my mind. After a number of long, dreadful minutes, Veronica cleared her throat to speak again.

"Hey, Eli."

The sharp edge on her tone told me she was trying to catch my attention. I wasn't sure I could handle her conversation at the moment, so I did not respond.

"Eliiiii," she said again, this time drawing out the syllables of my nickname and letting a little bit of patronism seep into her voice. Again, I pointedly refused to give her any reaction.

Then she reached across the table to jostle my shoulder, and I couldn't pretend to ignore her anymore. My head snapped up, a frustrated frown on my face and my mouth opening to tell her off, but the sight that greeted me brought me up short with a gasp.

Standing right beside my sister's chair, looking straight at me with the least readable expression I've ever seen, was **Merlin**.


	2. Part 2

My mind fizzled out into complete blankness, like a television screen with no signal. Static, white noise, and not much else except the feeling of being very very _small_.

Merlin was intimidating. She was three years older, ten times more intelligent, and an infinity more beautiful than me, and I felt like a small, bedraggled, possibly-irritating rabbit in comparison. She didn't actively disdain anyone or try to make other people look worse than her to achieve her aura of feminine power. She simply wore it by nature.

I glanced at my sister, doing my best to communicate my desperate question of _what the heck is Merlin doing here?!_ with only my eyes. Her only reply was to shake her head. Veronica either didn't understand my intentions or was equally clueless.

"Elizabeth?"

To be honest, I'd never heard Merlin's voice clearly before now, let alone had her speak to me directly. When she did, my insecurity _doubled_. Her voice matched the rest of her – suave, mature, and attractive.

"H-hi, Merlin." I didn't have a **chance**.

She seemed pleased that I knew her name, for she smiled a bit as she spoke. "I had hoped I could pull you aside somewhere private for a short conversation." She extended one manicured hand in my direction, even though I could never have reached it across the table. It was all I could do not to shy away from it.

I opened my mouth to decline, but then I met Veronica's eyes again.

My sister fixed me with a hard stare for a moment, then raised her eyebrows a tiny fraction. A sick feeling washed over me when I remembered that Veronica wanted me to speak to Merlin too. I probably could have gotten away with speaking to just Meliodas if I'd never bumped into Merlin, or even if I _did_ encounter her and simply lied about it. With my sister sitting directly across from me, however, even closer to Merlin than I was, I could not squirm away from our bargain.

"Um, sure. Yes, we can… we can go somewhere," I assented.

I extricated myself from the lunch table and followed Merlin out of the cafeteria. Neither of us spoke a word until the door closed on the chatter of the lunchroom. In the quiet of the hall, I dared to ask a question.

"If you don't mind my asking, what is this all about?"

"I'll tell you in a moment," she replied without looking back at me. It was almost a rebuke, and it stung. I bowed my head and continued to follow her in silence. I very nearly bumped into Merlin when she abruptly stopped after only a few more paces.

She turned to face me just as I regained my bearings from stumbling backwards. Our eyes met for a moment. I ducked my head again to escape the feeling of being examined beneath her gaze. Her irises were the closest I'd ever seen to being gold, and they seemed to be able to penetrate right through me. I felt exposed by them, and I felt interested. My discomfort around her mingled with curiosity.

"I hear you are romantically interested in Meliodas."

I looked back up in shock at her words. She hadn't posed them as a question. They were a statement; she somehow knew for sure that she was right. My cheeks warmed. How had she known? Was I really that obvious?

Merlin continued as if she could read my mind and answer the panicked questions I asked myself. "Don't worry too much. I tend to be more perceptive than most people. Few others would notice what I have. Although, if you continue behaving around Meliodas as you did this morning, I doubt your feelings will remain undiscerned for long."

A heavy stone dropped into the pit of my stomach; it might have been the only thing tethering my soul to my body in that moment. The smug tilt to Merlin's lips suggested that she knew _exactly_ what she was doing to my psyche by destabilizing me.

"Thus, I have a proposition for you."

 _Blackmail_ , was the first thought that sprang into my mind at her words. Merlin, this sexy and smooth woman, intended to exploit her powers of perception to blackmail me into something. I spiraled into wild conjecture about the details in no time at all – would her price be that I give up on Meliodas forever so she could have him to herself, or would she ask for money? What if it was political, and she wanted something from my father and his government? Would she actually spill her knowledge if I didn't uphold my end of the deal? How thoroughly would it ruin my life if she did?

"Let me help set you up with him."

I could almost hear the screech of a record scratch as my frantic guessing skittered to a halt. My bafflement leaked out of me as a breathless whimper.

" _Sorry_?"

A suppressed chuckle curved Merlin's mouth. "Allow me to help you get a date with Meliodas," she repeated, as if it were the plainest, simplest, and most sensible sentence in the world.

"I don't understand."

Now she actually _did_ laugh, albeit softly and only one short huff. "I'm sure you were expecting something different." She paused to collect herself, then kept talking. "I am envisioning a situation of mutual benefit, one which will help us both at least partially achieve our goals where Meliodas is concerned."

I could not remember the last time I'd felt this confused. "And… what does that involve, exactly?"

"Instruction and cooperation."

All I could muster for a response was a blank stare as communication between my ears and my brain went dead.

"Hmm, how to explain this most clearly…" Merlin continued. "Each of us would like to, let's say, spend more time with Meliodas, and have him consider us favorably. Since apparently neither one of us has been as successful on our own as we'd like to be, I suggest that we each do our best to set the other up with him. Of course, at the end of things, only one will have all that she wants, but until that point we can dramatically increase the amount of time we each spend with Meliodas, and the amount of positive information he hears about us." She paused and lifted an eyebrow, confirming my understanding.

"So we both try to set the other up with him and then talk each other up in his presence." I spoke slowly, watching her carefully to check that I was right.

Merlin nodded at my words. "Yes. In theory, the more we praise one another, the more time we will spend with him, the more to praise one another. Laud each other's personality, her talents, her quirks, her physical appearance." She scanned over my body appraisingly; I tingled beneath her gaze. What would it feel like if Meliodas looked at me like that, if the man I loved stripped me with his eyes?

"Do you really think that will work?" I breathed. Her answer came in a deepening of her smirk, as if my doubt was simply ludicrous. I inhaled deeply to brace myself. "Okay. When do we start?"

"As soon as we have the opportunity to do so." I gave a firm nod, but then she added: "Which, for me, happens to be this afternoon. I'm sure you are hesitant to agree on a partnership you cannot guarantee I'll fulfill, so I will act today as a gesture of good faith."

To tell the truth, I had not thought to be suspicious of her at all until she pointed out that I should be. I really _was_ an idiot, wasn't I? I managed to keep my cheeks from turning pink this time and hide my embarrassment, but shame – and doubt, too, now that I thought about it – wormed its way through my chest. Still, she was offering me an appealing deal, and I supposed I'd learn fairly quickly whether or not she upheld her part in it. So I beat back the anxiety crawling through my blood and dismissed the skeptical whispers in the back of my mind and gave her another nod.

"Okay. I agree." I stuck out my arm for a handshake.

A sudden grin lit Merlin's face – a _real_ smile, not one of the smirks I saw her wear so often. I blinked a few times, a bit stunned. Words came tumbling out of my mouth before I could stop them.

"You're very beautiful when you smile like that."

My eyes widened with surprise at myself, and I began to shake. Across from me, and the polar opposite of me, Merlin seemed completely nonplussed. Her smile did not twitch, and I saw no flicker of either surprise or disdain in her golden eyes. Rather, the delight in her expression stayed unshaken as she turned her back to me with a small giggle and walked away. I was left standing in the hallway, weak-kneed and overwhelmed, with my arm still extended stiffly for a handshake I never received.

* * *

 _I am not sure exactly how I feel about this whole situation. I can't help but feel like the setup favors Merlin much more than me. Meliodas will prefer her for sure. I would prefer her too._

 _So I suppose my best course of action is to make sure I only give her enough compliments in front of him to make us even. Even though she's intelligent, I am starting to doubt my assumptions about her duplicitousness from before. Today she seemed very genuine. But I'm very bad thinking on the fly, so I will practice my complimenting here._

 _She seems to be very fit and healthy – I don't think I've ever even_ _heard_ _of her being out sick, and she always shows off how trim the rest of her is with what she wears. She is well-proportioned, too. Unlike mine, her breasts are perfect sized. I'm sure Meliodas has noticed her figure, since he is a boy and boys think like that, but I can point it out especially. Merlin's clothes are always stylish, too, even though I blush just_ _thinking_ _about what it would be like to expose that much of my own skin. Her face is attractive, with her high cheekbones and all that. And her eyes are very beautiful. When we spoke earlier today, I felt like she was staring right through me, and you can tell from the way they look that she is very clever. Aside from her body, Merlin…_

I lifted my head from the journal page and frowned. I tapped my lips with the end of my pen, then chewed on them, and by the time I started to worry that I'd bite them raw, I still had no idea what to say. She'd called herself perceptive, and the fact that she knew about my crush confirmed her claim, but that was all I had.

I looked down at my journal with a little sigh. Would this be enough? I shook my head _no_. Her physical appearance was definitely one of Merlin's assets, but it felt very wrong to reduce another girl to just her body. **Her** , in particular; I knew just from my spare interactions with her that a stunningly complex person lived within her.

There was no way I could praise her if I did not know a thing about her.

A few minutes later, I was rifling through the pages of our school directory book. Merlin's address and home telephone number were listed there with every other student's. I found the entry and grabbed our home phone from its cradle in the hall. My fingers shook as I dialed in the numbers.


	3. Part 3

The truck pulled up to Merlin's house at exactly the appointed time. I thanked Gilthunder for the ride, glanced away from Margaret's questioning stare, and crept up to the doorstep. My stomach did backflips as I approached.

In the days since arranging this get-to-know-you session, I decided that I had been a fool to set it up. All day today, I was constantly riddled with anxiety. I'd sincerely considered cancelling, but did not want to give Merlin _any_ reason to dislike me. So, here I was.

I waited for a few minutes after ringing the bell, ears straining for any hint of whether someone was coming to the door for me. All I heard was a series of heavy thumps, as if someone were throwing something against the walls. I leaned closer to the door to hear better. The sharp sound of the metal lock turning in its latch had me jumping back as if it had electrocuted me. My ears filled with the pounding of my own heartbeat as the door eased open.

"Good evening, Merli—" I started my greeting before I realized that neither of the people standing behind the door were Merlin. Instead, a boy with wild golden hair stared back at me from his perch piggyback atop an effeminate young man. Both of their faces were slightly flushed, and laughter danced in their expressions. "Oh, I— hello," I said lamely.

The older of the pair took his arm off the boy's leg for a moment to push his glasses up his nose and then offered me a smile. "Hello there! Are you the acquaintance coming for dinner?"

"She is."

Merlin appeared in the foyer behind the boys immediately following her words. They both looked back at her, and then the older one stepped aside to open the door further and welcome me. I gave him a grateful smile that hopefully didn't look _too_ much like a grimace.

"Good evening, Merlin," I repeated, glad that this time I was speaking to the person I intended to.

"Good evening, Elizabeth. These two are my foster brothers, Gowther and Arthur." At the sound of his name, the young piggyback rider gave a massive, bright grin and waved at me. I reciprocated, albeit with much more reservation. "Maybe now that you're here, they will stop running around the house wrestling like a stampede of dragons. Come on in." She gestured and turned around, inviting me to follow while Gowther closed the door behind us.

She lead me into the living room and settled me on the biggest couch. Gowther and Arthur tumbled in behind us and promptly started tossing around on a chair in the corner. Merlin watched their antics for a minute, and I politely followed her gaze. I couldn't stop myself from giggling – they looked like they were having so much fun!

"You and your siblings are all very different," I observed. My own sisters and I were very similar despite not sharing blood – in fact, Margaret and I were probably more similar than even she and Veronica. Merlin, Arthur, and Gowther, by comparison, looked almost nothing alike in both face and the build of their bodies. Whereas Merlin was tall and svelte, Gowther had lanky limbs and a feminine figure, and Arthur seemed like he would grow to be sturdy and even. "How old are they?"

"Gowther is a year ahead of you at Liones – so, a sophomore. Arthur is in seventh grade. As for our differences," she paused to look back at the tangle of her brothers' bodies, "I'm sure that has something to do with the fact that we are not related." I turned to her with surprise. She _had_ mentioned something about them being foster brothers earlier, I recalled.

"Oh, yes! I think you introduced them as your foster siblings… right?"

Merlin gave a soft chuckle and nodded, then continued. "Gowther and I are foster children, and only Arthur is a biological child of our parents. None of the three of us share blood ties with one another. It does not lessen our relationship, however, or make us any less important to each other."

"Oh, well, they say the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb," I ventured. "A lot of times, the family you end up with is better and more important than the one that birthed you ever could be." She didn't turn her head away from her brothers, but I thought I saw her eyes flicker toward me. "I—" I stammered, struggling to speak through the sticky column of my throat. Why did this happen every time I tried to speak to her? I swallowed forcefully and tried again to continue. "I'm adopted, myself. My father and two sisters are related by blood, but they treat me just as if our mother gave birth to me as well. I have grown up as a Liones since they took me in as an infant. I couldn't ask for a better family."

"What an uncanny similarity for us to share." At last, Merlin faced me. Heat flooded my body as I met the genuine warmth in her smile.

"Although this is not officially our permanent home, Gowther and I certainly feel as though we've found somewhere we belong. Still, it is a unique experience from living with the parents who birthed you. It is always nice to meet someone else who understands it."

I could not keep myself from returning the grin.

Their father summoned Merlin, Arthur, Gowther, and I for dinner shortly after that. The meal passed very pleasantly. Merlin's father asked about my family keenly after Merlin revealed that I too was adopted. He redirected the conversation away from the topic of family, however, when I mentioned my mother's death several years ago, and I settled into my personal habit of quiet observation thereafter.

Their family dynamic warmed me. Gowther was nearer in age to myself and Merlin than to Arthur, but they were obviously _very_ close. Gowther kept the youngest brother busy with jokes and sneaky playful jabs at his stomach. Merlin and their father pulled the two boys into their conversation whenever possible – which, once the conversation was no longer about me, ended up being most of the time. They were all very energetic, too. Unlike the dinner table at my home, where conversation occurred in mellow tones and never strayed away from menial subjects, Merlin's family jumped between topics like school and politics and funny videos with boisterous enthusiasm. Even if I **were** the sort to make conversation, just watching them talk to each other entertained me much more than joining in would have.

When dinner came to a close, Merlin excused me and herself from the table and guided me upstairs. She opened a door down the hallway and gestured me in behind her.

The first word that came to mind to describe Merlin's bedroom was _dense_. With the exception of her desk, which was a clean plane I assumed she reserved for studying, every surface and shelf was filled with eye-catching clutter. My head swiveled like a periscope as I entered. I could not stop my eyes from flicking wildly around the room in their attempts to take everything in. After several heartbeats that felt like a short eternity, I managed to focus on a single cluster of knickknacks on her bedside table.

Merlin sat on her bed while I examined the odds-and-ends. Stones of odd shapes and colors lay nestled between paper origami creatures and curious flasks and boxes, the contents of which I couldn't even guess at. A strange-colored snakeskin wrapped around the base of her lamp, and paper flowers blossomed from the top. Another quiet couple of seconds later, she spoke to me.

"I apologize for my father's questioning. He is well-intentioned; had we known it would involve a topic that discomfited you, I'm sure he would not have broached the subject. Are you alright, Elizabeth?"

I looked up from my examination of her nightstand in surprise, startled both at her words and at my own presumptiveness in looking so closely her belongings. They were probably at least _somewhat_ personal to her; I didn't want to be horribly invasive. My hand released the trinket it was holding quick as if the thing had burned me. I clasped my fingers behind my back to prevent further wandering as I explained myself.

"Oh, no, you needn't apologize at all! And I am completely fine, thank you. I just tend to be a little shy sometimes and have trouble speaking."

Merlin nodded thoughtfully, her eyes distant. "You are quiet by nature, then," she mused. I nodded enthusiastically in reply.

"Yes, quite. I do not mind talking about my mother – my sisters and I processed our grief a long time ago. I didn't mean to seem upset… I hope that I did not offend your father by coming across that way?"

Her eyes refocused on mine, and then she shook her head. I felt a measure of tension leave with my next breath and tried to arrange my lips into a reassuring smile. It was gladdening to know that her father would not think less of me because of my mistake. Still, I would be happier the sooner we could leave this topic of conversation, and for once I did not mind initiating that shift.

"So… this is your bedroom?" Merlin smiled a little. I pointed at the snakeskin-looking decoration wrapped around the lamp and asked, "What's this stuff?"

Once I started Merlin, there was no stopping her enthusiastic explanations. I did not mind it, however.

Normally it is quite boring to listen to others go on and on and on about what is important to them. I am as guilty as anyone else of checking out and nodding absentmindedly without actually listening or caring about what the other person says. But in this moment, with Merlin, I was completely enraptured. She didn't flush the way I did when excited, but her passion put warmth in her cheeks and a tiny spark of lightning in her eyes. Her complete absorption in explaining her notebooks and trinkets drew me in with her – I became just as invested as she was enthusiastic, and I even found myself asking questions for clarification as she went along.

My own eagerness _baffled_ me; I could not understand why I was so enamored. Her stories were fascinating, but her telling of them was hardly award-winning drama. The objects themselves were also neat, but again not so much so that they merited the amount of attention I paid. Something about Merlin herself compelled me to fixate on her as she flitted around the room, speaking without pause.

"I built this from the pages of an old favorite novel of mine – Gowther gifted me a new copy, so transforming the falling-apart book into something else was no great loss. I suppose you could consider this a book carcass…" She paused for breath.

"I'm amazed that you can make something like that out of a book," I complimented. Merlin did not respond or even react to my words, as she was busy looking introspectively at her odd book sculpture. After a minute, I began to think she simply had not heard me. I had just opened my mouth to repeat myself when her gaze snapped to mine.

" **So** , do you feel prepared to discuss me with Meliodas now?"

I don't know why I reacted so strongly to that abrupt change in subject, only that I did.

A feeling of weightlessness flooded through my body – like the moment you miss a step in the dark, that abrupt sensation of the floor vanishing beneath you and the instant of suspense before you start the inevitable fall. My stomach clenched. My heart stuttered. I think I stopped breathing.

I suppose at some point I'd grown fond of Merlin and subconsciously started seeing this rendezvous as a budding friendship between us. Remembering all of a sudden that it wasn't that _at_ _all_ was very deeply disappointing.

To tell the truth, I had forgotten that that was why she showed me her room. I had forgotten that getting to know her was only for the sake of complimenting her to Meliodas. While she spoke, I had fooled myself into thinking that this was happening because she wanted to show me her life, her thoughts, _herself_. A bolt of self-hatred lanced through me at the thought that I failed to enjoy the illusion while I could. I hadn't particularly treasured the situation I imagined I was in until reality slapped me in the face. What's worse, I couldn't tell whether Merlin even sensed any part of my hurt.

Heat welled behind my eyes. I bit the inside of my lip **hard** to keep my tears at bay. I needed to be out of this situation – out of this room – _ASAP_. I took a slow, shaky breath, doing my best to conceal that I was re-stabilizing myself, and swallowed a couple of times to make sure my voice sounded normal when I spoke.

"Excuse me, but where is your bathroom?"

If Merlin noticed my sudden crumble, she made no comment with either her spoken voice or her body language. She replied neither too quickly, like she was trying to cover up discomfort, nor too slow, as if she were afraid of upsetting me further by letting me have a way out. Her voice was even and casual. As far as I could read her, nothing was wrong in Merlin's world at all. The fact that all our interactions were based on a manipulative plot didn't faze her one bit. Somehow, that made my own sudden sadness transform its low ache into a _bite_.

"Down the hall to the left," she answered. I thanked her and made my retreat.

The short remainder of the evening passed in a haze of my own melancholy. I tried to get out of that house as soon as I gracefully could, all the while concealing my anxious moroseness. I think I did an acceptable job of faking being fine. In the privacy of my own heart, however, every pleasant minute until I left was tainted with disappointment. Even my short interaction with Gowther and Arthur felt stained in light of Merlin's _real_ purpose for the evening. My goodbyes to the pleasant family were hollow.

Merlin herself drove me home instead of letting me call my father to pick me up. The ride was quiet. She was respecting my preference for stillness and silence, I realized before long. But even that thoughtfulness did not remove the storm clouds over my head. She bade me goodbye and dropped me off on the sidewalk in front of my own home, wishing me and my family well. I thanked her again for the invitation. We exchanged all the necessary pleasantries and goodbyes.

I did not realize until she drove away, leaving me alone in the cool evening air choking on exhaust, that I never asked how talking me up to Meliodas had gone.

In fact, I completely forgot about him and the deal and my whole situation until Merlin brought them up, and after that I'd been so preoccupied with my disillusionment that I didn't spare anything else a second thought.

All I'd thought of tonight, was Merlin.


	4. Part 4

_**Author's Note**_ : Apologies for the slightly late chapter! It is also slightly longer to make it up to you. Please don't hesitate to leave feedback or favorites on any chapter of the story! - Trinity

* * *

I passed a week without speaking to or hearing from either Merlin or Meliodas. Against my better judgement, I sometimes still watched them interact from across the lunchroom. More than once, Merin came up behind Meliodas and greeted him by draping herself over his shoulder, her breasts pressed against his back and their tantalizing cleavage displayed for eyes (like mine) that might be watching. In all the long minutes I watched her with Meliodas, however, I did not **once** see either of them gesture or even glance to my side of the cafeteria.

A trickle of doubt about Merlin's motivations rose up in me again during that eight-day span of waiting and watching. Why she thought she needed _my_ help to catch Meliodas' attention was a mystery to me. Based on what I could tell watching from afar, she had it covered all by herself. All I could come up with as an explanation was that she either a) felt pity for me, and thus was helping me out even though it got her nothing in return, or b) she was not actually helping me at all.

By day ten, I was thoroughly convinced that I'd been fooled. Merlin tricked me so that she could take Meliodas with no opposition, and I fell for it like the gullible, trusting idiot I was. Her beauty and silver tongue won me over against my better judgement.

Then I got a text.

[Unknown Number] **Hey! This is Meliodas. I got your phone number from Gil the other day. Wondering if you're interested in going out to lunch together this weekend? Text me back or find me at school tomorrow if yes**

I don't think I can say that I had ever felt true elation until that exact moment. For an instant, I honest-to-goodness thought I would leave my body and ascend to the astral plane in my ecstasy. A second later, when I was securely back in my body for good, I flung myself face down on my bed and squealed into my pillow.

Merlin didn't betray me after all! She told Meliodas about me, told him good things about me, and now he was asking me out on a _date_!

I heard Veronica's voice from down the hall, muffled by the door and the distance, when I was quiet again. "—she's dying, probably. Not my problem."

"Veronica!" I lifted my head from the pillow to shout. "He texted me!"

Silence followed my words – was the heartbeat pounding in my ears crowding out the sound of a response? Then the door to my room flew open, and Veronica stood in the threshold with a kind-of shocked, kind-of disbelieving, kind-of overjoyed look on her face.

"Did you say _Meliodas_ **_texted_** you?!" I nodded eagerly instead of trying to speak. "You didn't respond yet, did you?"

I hesitated, taken aback by the question, and then shook my head the tiniest amount.

Veronica gave me a sharp nod of approval. "Good."

"Good?"

"Yeah, good. You don't want to be overeager. It might make him think you'd be clingy on a date; that's overwhelming, y'know?" I didn't, but I nodded anyways. She knew better than I did in this department. Veronica had never been on a real date herself, but that was very much her own choice – I often saw her flirt with cute boys and pretty girls who would _love_ to take her out.

"How long do I have to wait?" I asked.

"Hmm… How long ago did he send it?"

"Only a minute or two."

I sat up on my bed and tucked my legs underneath me. Once I moved, Veronica left her spot in the door and flopped down in the bed space I'd vacated. She glanced at her phone to check the time, and her eyes unfocused while she did the math. I clutched my pillow to me as I waited on her wisdom.

"Give it another ten minutes or so," she eventually decided. She turned her head to me and locked our gazes together. "Not longer than that, though. Then it seems like you don't care _enough_ , which won't land you a repeat date any more than clinginess will."

"Okay," I replied. I resolved to do everything absolutely right. I refused to mess up this golden chance.

Waiting the appropriate amount of time before responding was _agonizing_. Veronica stayed sprawled out on my bed, flipping through social media as she monitored me. By the time ten minutes passed, I felt ready to leap out the window or explode into a billion hyperexcited pieces. Then Veronica finally, _finally_ gave me a solemn nod to say that I could go ahead.

I crafted my reply carefully, edited it a bunch, checked three times for typos, and quivered as I tapped the screen to send.

[Sent Message] **When?**

His response came two minutes and twenty-two seconds later.

[Unknown Number] **Sunday at 1?**

Everything in me wanted to reply immediately and enthusiastically, with exclamation points and a few more capitalized letters than was strictly necessary. A pointed look from Veronica reminded me of the delicate line I trod, however, and so I waited. Once again, ten minutes seemed like a long time, but I trusted my sister.

[Sent Message] **That would be great! Please let me know any details about transportation and location when you can.**

And so it was done. I was going on a date with the man of my dreams.

* * *

Saturday afternoon arrived with significantly more fanfare than I really wanted. Every member of my family was trying to do something different to me – Veronica flung suggestions and daring clothing selections at me in between overaggressive affirmations meant to embolden me; Margaret lingered on the periphery of Veronica's whirlwind and sent encouraging smiles my way; Father faltered between amusement my flustered responses to both sisters and giving me frowns of disapproval for going out with a boy. Ultimately, none of their efforts did anything to help me. By the time I stepped out of Gilthunder's truck at the appropriate place, I'd forgotten every piece of boy advice I'd ever heard and could barely stand on my shaky legs.

I found Meliodas at a corner table inside the diner. Our eyes met across the room as I approached, and he stood to greet me until I took my seat across the table.

"So!" he began brightly, flashing me one of his warmest grins as he slid into his side of the booth opposite me. "How ya doing today, Elizabeth?"

 _Perfect, as of seeing your face a few seconds ago_ , I wanted to say. Incomplete pieces of Veronica's advice drifted through my mind, and I latched on to the only coherent thought – don't make yourself seem too overeager. Even _I_ wasn't stupid enough to think he wouldn't be uncomfortable with my mild obsession. Veronica's mandates about not seeming clingy solidified that I should not say the first thing that came to mind. I could not tell him how wonderful being with him was.

"I am alright, thank you. How are you, Meliodas?" There. Nice and neutral.

He never dropped his smile. "Pretty great, actually. Especially now that I'm hanging out with you!"

Oh. _Oh_. He just said what I never would have _dared_ to. Did the no-eagerness rule only apply to girls? Did Meliodas simply not know those rules? It didn't matter. Every square centimeter of my skin warmed.

It took me a moment to realize that I should probably say something in return, rather than simply bask silently in the glow his comment washed me with. I opened my mouth to speak only to find the words stuck in my throat. A quiet wheezing sound escaped me and I clapped my lips back together before I made any other weird noises. And then, a spare instant before the situation would've become irreparably awkward, a waitress arrived at our table to save me.

"Hey there, guys! Can I get you some drinks or anything?"

I almost thanked her for the timely arrival, but Meliodas spoke first.

"Oh hey, Diane. I didn't know you worked Saturday afternoons too."

"I _don't_ ," she sighed. Her twin ponytails dangled to the side as her head tilted into one slumping shoulder. "I picked it up to cover for Melascula, since that bitch didn't show up for her shift a couple hours ago. Oh well." She shrugged. "Tips are better during lunch than breakfast anyway, and Matrona's always on my case to work more often."

A large menu lay on the table by my elbow; I drew it closer to me and opened the pages as stealthily as I could, hiding myself behind them while the waitress kept chatting with my date. Who was she? She looked familiar somehow, and Meliodas obviously knew her well. I wracked my brains for a handful of seconds before the realization struck me like a bolt of lighting. This girl – Diane, he called her – sat at the same lunch table as Meliodas. The two of them were part of the same clique. No wonder she and Meliodas behaved with such familiarity if they sat together for an hour every weekday.

But then again… what exactly were the limits around mere familiarity? I dared to let my eyes peek over the top of my menu shield to assess how their conversation was going. Meliodas seemed totally focused on Diane. I returned to hiding before either of them noticed my inspection.

Doubt crept into my heart again. What if Meliodas wasn't that interested in being here with me after all? Could it be that Merlin's idea of 'talking me up' was to convince him to take me on a _pity date_? My stomach twisted bitterly, more offended at the thought that she might deceive me that way than at the idea of this lunch being a product of Meliodas' pitying heart.

"Anyway, Diane, have you met Elizabeth?" Meliodas' voice came back to the forefront of my attention at the sound of my name. I lowered the menu and smiled charmingly at the waitress.

"Hi there. Nice to meet you," I greeted her. Meliodas continued to officiate our introduction.

"Elizabeth, this is an old friend of mine, Diane. Diane, this is Elizabeth. We just met a handful of days ago, and I wanted to take her out to lunch to get to know her better." He propped his chin on the back of his folded hands and beamed at me. I nearly melted, but Diane's cold glare quenched the warmth in my gut. Still, I forced myself not to look away, and I was soon very glad that I didn't. After a moment of holding her gaze, I recognized the expression in her eyes: envy. Diane was **jealous**. Of _me_ , because I was on a date with Meliodas! The flood of joy filled me so thoroughly that I did not squirm even a bit beneath her subtle glare, and she broke eye contact first

"You guys want something to drink?"

* * *

"So now you've met two of my friends!" Meliodas said once Diane disappeared with our orders. "First Merlin, and now Diane. Three, I guess, since you already knew Gilthunder," he added. "Sorry about Diane, by the way. She's in a funky mood today, probably because of the unexpected work shift."

"You know I know Merlin?" I bit the inside of my cheek sharply – if that did not come across as suspicious, I didn't know what would. But Meliodas let it go by without comment.

"Sure! I actually talked to her when I was thinking about setting up our little outing, here. She said you were great."

"Oh! Well, she is not exactly awful, herself. She is a wizard at origami, and she's so clever I am sure she uses magic to help on her tests."

Meliodas nodded knowingly, closing his eyes for a moment. He looked very sage like that, I thought. Then his smile flashed back on to his face as he opened his eyes once again.

"Well. You've met Merlin and Diane, and we've talked about them. But that's not what we're here for, is it?" Even though I understood his question to be rhetorical, I nodded just a bit. He seemed to like that, for his smile deepened. How could I have ever doubted that he'd come for any reason other than an actual desire to do so? The earnest interest in his expression was as real and as apparent as the table between us. "Then let's get to the real deal. Tell me about yourself!"

"I… I'm afraid I wouldn't know where to start," I admitted. "After all, it isn't often that you have to try and capture your whole personality in so many words."

He chuckled as he reclined. "Fair enough. Let's just start simple, then. What's your favorite color?"

"Um… I can never decide between soft yellow and the color of the sky." But goodness, I loved them both very dearly. "What about you, Meliodas?"

For a moment, I thought I might have caught him by surprise. His smile did not fall, but the corners of his mouth lost a bit of their curl, and his eyebrows perked by a hair. It only lasted for a moment, however – before I could really analyze his expression, he had taken up his characteristic grin again.

"Green."

"What kind of green?"

"Any kind." He shrugged.

I paused for a moment at his vagueness. Not out of offense or anxiety about it, to my surprise, but simply curiosity. I wondered if he was a private sort of person.

"Do you have any siblings?" I ventured.

He did not answer immediately, for our drinks came just then. Diane draped as much of her arms, chest, and shoulders as she could in between me and Meliodas, blocking the sight of each other until she retreated. Although Meliodas did not engage in conversation with Diane at all, he made no effort to get through the process of ordering our meal quickly. When the waitress walked away, he occupied himself sipping at his milkshake. Silence hovered between us for a moment, and then I dared asking again.

"Do you have any siblings?"

He nodded without taking his mouth from the straw or his eyes from his shake. That was all the answer I was going to get without prying further, I supposed. I did not dare risk upsetting him by being too nosy. So I spoke about **myself** to fill the silence, hoping that he did not mind me telling him things he probably already knew.

"I have two sisters. Margaret is dating Gilthunder, so I am sure you know her. Veronica is a junior. She's on a lot of the sports teams."

"Veronica's pretty gay, isn't she?"

His question took me by surprise. I paused, blinking at him.

Most of the time, when people asked about my sister's sexuality, they did so in a way that made it clear what kind of answer I ought to give. Some people – usually older folks and teachers – might have a little bit of disdain in their voice or sound suspicious. I gave them wishy-washy answers, or simply said that it was not my business. Other people asked eagerly, often because they hoped to date her. Them, I answered with the clear truth that I knew. But Meliodas asked the question so nonchalantly that I wasn't sure what to make of it. So I responded carefully and watched for his reaction.

"Yes… as far as I know, she is bisexual."

Of course, his reaction betrayed as little of his feelings as the question itself had. He did nothing but nod, his expression and body language completely neutral as if the topic hadn't come out of nowhere. He was just collecting information, nothing more. He baffled me. And yet, even though I was confused, here I sat asking questions of my own volition and speaking about myself and my own family quite freely, and I felt fine. No tears choked my voice or stung my eyes, no hot blush wrapped my cheeks, and my belly was free of the knots and twinges that wracked it in situations like these. Around Meliodas I was… comfortable. He did not terrify me the way so many people seemed to, or the way _he_ had before now, for that matter. He also did not suck all my focus and coherent thought into himself like a black hole as Merlin had. Being with him was pleasant.

"Why do you ask?"

"Just curious." He shrugged. "Margaret's always making ooey-gooey eyes at Gilthunder and vice versa, and the two of us are sitting here, but I've never heard of her going out with a girl **or** a guy. I guess she's the odd one out."

Maybe some people would've taken offense, but I simply giggled. "Veronica would get a kick out of hearing you say that. Actually, if any of us is the odd one out, it's me." The corner of Meliodas' mouth twitched with mischief.

"You're the only one who isn't into guys?" he asked.

"N-no!" I blurted, my arms jumping to fold across my chest like shields as I shook my head frantically. "After all, I'm with **you** aren't I?" Meliodas snickered into his hand, and it took me a moment before I realized what had come out of my mouth. Heat blossomed up my neck. I simply had a talent for digging my own grave deeper and deeper. "H-hey, I didn't mean it to be— uh—"

He stopped his subtle laughter and met my eyes steadily, reassurance in his gaze.

"Don't worry. I know you wouldn't have meant it that way. What did'ja mean for real?"

"Oh, ah…" I tugged on my collar a bit and was rewarded by a cool brush of air against my flushed skin. "Veronica and Margaret are related to our father and each other by blood, whereas I am adopted," I explained. " **That** 's what calling myself the odd one out was intended to mean." Meliodas canted his head to the side.

"That must've been hard growing up."

I shook my head. "No, not really. Mother, Father, and my sisters have always loved me as their own. I imagine it would have been much more difficult to have siblings and a family you are related to but cannot get along with."

"Good point." He nodded along in agreement, then paused to ask: "So what if it was _both_?"

He meant it as a jest, but despite that, melancholy fell over me like a blanket. I dropped my gaze to the table and fixated on a spot where the laminate was chipping.

"Unfortunately, that happens far more often than it ought to. Last March there were more than seventy thousand children in the orphanage and foster care system in this country, and only fifteen percent at most will find home in the next year. And five percent of those who _are_ adopted end up back in the system. It doesn't sound like much, but that's five hundred children dealing with something **no one** should have to face. And that isn't even considering the kids born in third world countries where orphaning means they die or have to do terrible things to survive."

When I first looked up the statistics a couple years before, I had been stunned to realize just how fortunate I was to have my family. That night, I'd wept for almost an hour for the kids who did not have my luck. Since Father insisted that taking in another daughter was impossible without Mother alive, I'd ended up dedicating most of my summers since then to fundraising for prospective adoptive families across the country.

Meliodas had sobered along with me, and he was quiet for a long, long time. Long enough that I started to worry I'd chased him off. I glanced up to find him looking at me with an odd expression. I opened my mouth to apologize, but he beat me to speaking.

"I'm gonna go take a leak real quick. Do you mind?" I shook my head mutely.

Our food arrived not even a whole minute after he disappeared. Diane and I did not speak – actually, I intentionally avoided even making eye contact just in case she felt inclined for conversation. Etiquette and a sudden absence of my appetite compelled me to let the sandwiches steam on the table until Meliodas returned, and I gave myself a pep talk in the meantime.

 _Meliodas doesn't want to eat lunch with someone on the verge of tears, let alone make some stick in the mud his girlfriend,_ I told myself, doing my best to emulate Veronica's stern, bracing tone. _Straighten up, dry your eyes, lift your spirit, Elizabeth! For him, you can_ _ **do it**_ _._

By the time he reached the table, I'd mostly accomplished that, and decided that whatever heart-heaviness I could not discard, I would do my best to simply forget about. Meliodas made that easy.

"Hey, food's here!" he commented as he slid back into his seat. He reached for his sandwich, but then paused with it halfway to his mouth. "Did you know I can't cook? Because I _seriously_ can't cook for shit."

* * *

 _I laughed, and before long, I forgot,_ I wrote in my journal late that night.

 _Oh, and, at the end of the date, Melidoas invited me to a party. Funnily enough, Merlin texted me later that afternoon and invited me too. I guess their whole friend group is going. I've never been to a party before – at least, not the kind of party I expect this one to be – but of course I accepted both invitations. Hopefully it's okay with everyone there if I choose not to drink._


	5. Part 5

_**AN:**_ Apologies again for a tardy chapter. I traveled back to school last weekend and have been kept busy since then! Plus, this chapter's length (4,000 words!) was a beast to edit. Thank you all for your patience, as well as your encouraging feedback on this story so far. I appreciate every reader! _\- Trinity_

* * *

I managed to convince Veronica to give me a ride to the party in our family car. She made a face as we pulled up and looked over at my outfit in the passenger seat with another strange expression.

"Be careful tonight, Eli."

"I will be. You don't have to worry. After all, I'm here with Meliodas." _And Merlin_ , I added to myself. I was sure they would not let me come to any social or bodily harm. "Oh, that's right!" I exclaimed, reaching for my phone. "I should text Meliodas to let him know I've arrived."

A few minutes replete with goodbyes and a fussing Veronica later, I stood on the step to the front door with a trembling stomach. If only Meliodas knew how much I was willing to brave in order to spend time with him! My phone vibrated in my hand; I glanced down to see the screen lit by his reply to my earlier message.

[Meliodas] **Cool!** **Come in the front door**

I tugged my shirt down over my midriff just a little bit more and then knocked on the door before I had time to freak out and run away.

 _Deep breath, Elizabeth_ , I reminded myself evenly. I could do this.

Just a few heartbeats later – normal heartbeats, not the intense, rapid pounding in my own chest at that moment – the doorknob scraped in its latch and swung open. Loud music and an odd blend of smells assaulted me as I took a deep breath. I took a second deep breath to brace myself. And then I stepped over the threshold. Someone closed the door behind me, and I was in.

Dozens of people filled the interior of the house, holding drinks and food and swaying to loud, thumping music. The dim light made their bodies appear as little more than silhouettes. No one looked familiar.

I needed to find Meliodas.

Against my better judgment, I forced my anxiety way back in my throat and stepped forward into the crowd. I did not exactly know where I was going, other than that I'd seen a corner in the back of the room that I presumed led to more of the house. It was slow going – I was not very assertive, to begin with, and there was no way I had the wherewithal to lift my voice above the music to move people out of my way. Instead, I wriggled through small open spaces between bodies. All too soon, the press of arms and legs and waists and hips became claustrophobic.

Somebody's hand suddenly wrapped firmly around my upper arm. I just about jumped out of my skin and then shrieked and spun in place, dislodging my attacker's grip as I turned to face them. Merlin pulled her hand back, startled, but smiled reassuringly once our eyes met.

"Oh! Sorry!" I had to shout to be heard over the pulse of music. "Hello, Merlin!"

I could not help the flicker of my eyes over her body. She dressed for parties in even _skimpier_ clothing than she wore at school, something which I had not really thought possible. The lacy bodysuit clung to and enhanced every centimeter of her curves, including the smooth contours of her breasts and the dark nipples that showed through the lace.

"I am glad you came," she replied, somehow making herself heard without straining to shout. "Here, come this way." She took my hand and guided me through the partygoers.

We wove our way through the party into a well-lit kitchen, where I finally took my eyes from Merlin's shapely back to see Meliodas sitting at one of the countertops. A cluster of people surrounded him, every one of them steeped in some degree of drunkenness. I spotted a few familiar faces from school in the bunch, among them the guy sitting beside Meliodas with his face pressed to the granite. As Merlin and I entered, Meliodas loosened the top from a beer with the edge of the counter and proceeded to chug its contents in three massive swallows. He all but slammed the bottle down; his triumph was rewarded with a cheer from the spectators.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it. He drinks like a fish," said an unfamiliar voice right beside my ear. I flinched away from it, almost launching myself into Merlin in the process. She didn't seem to mind, instead simply laughing at my reaction.

"Elizabeth, this is King. King, this is Elizabeth," she introduced with a gesture between me and the plain-looking guy who had startled me. "She is a freshman I've recently become acquainted with."

I smiled to conceal my pink cheeks and gave King a little wave. He was incredibly average-looking aside from his babyface – I assumed he was in the same class as Merlin, but he could pass for much younger if he did not wear such a serious expression. I thought I recognized him as one of the people who sat with Meliodas during lunch at school.

"Hey, Elizabeth," he replied, sounding bored. Even though he'd been the one to initiate our interaction, he already seemed tired of it. He gave me a once-over over me with lethargic eyes, then apparently decided to move on and looked back to Merlin. "Hey Merlin, have you seen Elaine? I thought she'd be with Ban, but as you can see…" He paused to glance with disapproval at the guy slumped over the countertop next to Meliodas.

"I can't say that I have," she replied. "Here: tear Meliodas away from his admirers so he can look after Elizabeth, and then I'll help you find her." She paused for a moment to follow King's sour gaze and then shook her head. "On second thought, the she and I will both look. I'll text you if our search bears any fruit."

Part of me swore that Merlin had a magical homing beacon installed in her brain, because she located Elaine just as quickly as she'd found me when I came in. King must have had the same confidence in her ability as I did, for he followed Merlin and I out of the kitchen. She lead us unerringly to what must have been the living room, where a quartet of girls a year above me sat in a circle of chairs passing a metal flask between them. It was much quieter there, and far fewer people occupied it.

The second we entered, King pushed past me to jump toward the girls, crying: " **Elaine!** " At the sound of his shout, a little waif of a blonde with the flask to her lips looked toward the door. Her eyebrows crumpled with concern.

"Harlequin? What's wrong? Is Ban okay?" she asked. King spluttered as he stumbled over a pillow in his rush to reach her. He looked a little bit offended when he regained his balance.

"What? Ban's fine – he doesn't have any higher alcohol tolerance than he did before. But do you even know what's in that flask?!" He pointed an accusatory finger at the offending object.

Elaine looked between it and him evenly.

"It's vodka," she replied. King made an odd huff, so she continued. Her voice was placid in response to King's consternation. "We spiked our lemonade with it half an hour ago, and now we're trying it straight." As if to challenge him to do something about it, she held his gaze as she brought the flask back to her lips and tipped the alcohol into her mouth. I don't think King noticed her suppressed cough when she swallowed, for a thin young man with ginger hair suddenly appeared on his knees in front of him.

"I tried to counsel them against it, King, I truly did!" the skinny guy wailed. "After all, out of any mixer one could choose, vodka is—" His voice failed him as Merlin and I came into his view. When he managed to continue, he spoke without taking his eyes off Merlin for an instant, and it sounded as if he strained to force the words from his mouth. "Vodka is disgusting!"

One of the girls in the circle leaned over the back of her chair to sneer at King and the skinny guy. "All **_I_** saw you do was wring your hands, Escanor. Then again, at least _Escanor_ knew to keep his nose out of Elaine's business," she added with a pointed glare at King. King returned the dirty look.

"Shut up, Deldrey."

I tapped Merlin's arm very softly, halfway hoping that she wouldn't notice. I did not socialize much at school, particularly not outside of my own grade, and the cast of characters before me was unfamiliar. Admitting that, however, would be **so** embarrassing.

"Hm?" She looked down at me with one eyebrow raised in question.

"Who- who are all these people?" I asked softly. Pink rose in my cheeks but, to my relief, Merlin didn't seem to think anything of my question.

"Elaine is King's younger sister," she said. That explained why he was so concerned with her alcohol consumption. "She is dating Ban, whom you saw lying on the table next to Meliodas. He is quite the lightweight despite his size. At King's feet is Escanor, a mutual friend of ours and Meliodas' from the senior class. The two of you would get along well when he is not as drunk as this, I'd imagine." I nodded my understanding.

Our conversation was abruptly interrupted as Escanor spontaneously burst into tears. The person King had called Deldrey exchanged a look with one of the other girls in the circle and stood up, disdain in her eyes as she brushed past Escanor and left the room. Merlin sighed ever so slightly and stepped forward to kneel beside him, one hand set upon his shoulder. She murmured something to him that I could not hear, then looked up to Elaine and King. I did not hear their exchange either, but a moment later, King nodded to Merlin and came to my side. I looked between him and her with bewilderment, completely clueless as to what was going on.

"I need to help Escanor, so I asked King and Elaine to escort you back to Meliodas," Merlin explained, pitching her voice so I could hear her. "King." He took his eyes off his sister to look back down at Merlin. Her eyes were stern and gleaming. "Don't do anything stupid. Take care of Elizabeth."

I thought I could tell that King did not really mean it when he nodded in acquiesce, but Merlin seemed satisfied. She turned her attention back to Escanor, who now had his tear-streaked face pressed to the floor. Maybe I wasn't as perceptive as I thought.

King started drifting away from Merlin once she wasn't lecturing him anymore, Elaine by his side. Since I didn't exactly have anywhere else to go, nor could I trust myself to navigate the party and find Meliodas without help, I followed them. We stuck together until we entered the kitchen.

Elaine all but flew across the room as soon as Ban came in sight. She weaved her way around people so miraculously fast that she reached her boyfriend before I even realized she'd abandoned King and me. She did not scruple to be ladylike as she nudged people aside so that she could drape herself over Ban's shoulder with a concerned look, clucking and cooing and scolding him.

"How long have they been— Oh!" I was so preoccupied watching Elaine that, when I turned to King, I found that he'd disappeared. Which left me completely stranded.

The drinking contest was over even though Ban had been abandoned where he lay. Meliodas was nowhere in sight, and the collection of bottles on the table had been pushed out of the way to make room for more unfamiliar people. Without a guide, I really wasn't sure what to do with myself. I was more likely to get lost and end up locked in a basement for a week than to find Meliodas if I went searching on my own. My best option, I decided, was probably to wait for Merlin to come back from taking care of Escanor. She'd proven herself thoroughly capable of tracking people down in the chaos. So, in the meantime, I folded my hands behind my back and people-watched while I waited.

A familiar face and flash of chocolate pigtails caught my eye. Diane, the waitress from my date with Meliodas, was carefully edging around a corner of the counter to put it between her and some well-muscled jock. He didn't come any closer, but the nonchalant way he smoothed his green hair made it clear that he was oblivious to Diane's discomfort.

Dozens of social media posts about girls saving girls from unfortunate situations fluttered through my mind. I felt a little lightheaded – you never expect to end up in one of those situations, after all. But when I'd seen those posts and read those stories, I promised to myself that I would always step forward no matter how much my anxiety and shyness insisted that I'd die if I dared to do so. I made myself a **_promise_**. And I wasn't about to break that promise, not tonight.

My body threaded through the crowd on autopilot. I, Elizabeth, was suddenly _far_ far away watching some other girl inhabit my skin. I stopped not far behind Diane and reached out to put my hand on her upper arm, a massive grin on my face. I put on my best acting face and greeted her like an old friend.

"Diane, is that you? I've been looking for you **all** **night**!"

She broke off her frustrated retort to the guy to look over her shoulder at me. Confusion flickered over her face at my enthusiasm, but I could see the moment when she realized my game.

"Oh my gosh! Hey!" She turned her back on the green guy to give me a suffocating hug – this girl was _strong_. It couldn't be because of the waitressing, could it? She glanced behind her and spoke to him dismissively, saying "You don't mind if I take off to have a chat with my friend, do you, Howzer? The last time we saw each other was _ages_ ago."

The alcohol flush on Howzer's cheeks deepened a little. He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly as he nodded.

"Yeah, sure. No problem. Maybe we can—" I missed the rest of his reply as Diane grabbed both of my shoulders and shepherded me out of the kitchen, into what I supposed was the dining room. She did not release her clutching grip on my arms until we stood in front of an unoccupied table chair, which she collapsed into. Her violet eyes stayed closed for a moment; I wriggled my fingers and looked around awkwardly until she opened them again and looked straight at me.

I met her gaze for about two seconds before dropping my chin to my chest and apologizing.

"Sorry. I know I'm not your favorite person. It just looked like it might've been good for you to have an excuse to stop talking to that guy, so I thought…" I trailed off, wishing more than anything in the world that I could evaporate right then and there.

"Yeah. Thanks for that. A lot, actually."

My head jerked up in surprise to see her examining me with an appraising look to her. I gaped like a fish for a second before finding the words for my reply.

"O-oh, of course! You're very welcome."

"That was pretty cool of you," she continued. "You're Elizabeth, right? I didn't like seeing you get cute with Meliodas the other day, but you don't seem like a half-bad sort of person. Mind if we start over?"

I shook my head emphatically, and then I stuck my hand out to her with the most endearing smile I could muster with the amount nerves running through me.

"My name is Elizabeth Liones. It's nice to make your acquaintance."

Diane stood up to clasp my hand in hers and shake. Unlike me, she didn't seem to be anxious or unsteady in the least. "Glad to meet you, Elizabeth. Wanna go get something to drink?"

"Oh… uh… _Oh!_ "

My uncertain response was apparently all she needed to consider it a 'yes'. The hand that had been shaking mine just a moment before jumped to wrap around my wrist, and with a jerk she swiveled me around to pull me through the party. Her calloused grip was solid enough that I could not have broken it if I even wanted to, so I stumbled along behind her.

"Uh, um— Diane?" I called out to her as we went along. She paused and looked back at me with an inquisitive smile, not quite concerned but still invested in whatever I had stopped her for. She was certainly a very brusque and blunt person, I decided, but she was kind beneath her rougher edges. She did not speak, so I went ahead. "I—I've never had any kind of alcohol before."

"That's okay! I can pick your booze out for you, if you want… Or do you want to keep it that way and not drink at all? That's no problem, if you feel that way."

My fear of her rejection evaporated, and a feeling of fuzzy, giddy warmth took its place. I shook my head emphatically and reassured her.

"No, I'd be honored if you could pick something out for me to drink! I only bring it up because of something Merlin said earlier about it." I wasn't sure whether Merlin's command to King about keeping me safe had been cautioning him against giving me drinks or not. One way or another, Diane didn't have any malicious intent in her heart. She could keep me just as safe as King would have, right?

Diane grinned. She tightened her hand on my wrist and propelled us both forward again, now toward a destination I could see: a row of coolers set against a wall. Before I knew it, she thrust a plastic cup into my hands. I sniffed its contents carefully and caught a whiff of liquor smell within the fruity punch. This was probably the same spiked drink Elaine and her friends had been drinking before they switched to plain vodka. Based on how it smelled, it did not seem like it would be _too_ awful.

A squeal of delight from Diane beside me pulled my attention away from my drink. I looked up to see her wrapped around Meliodas like a four-armed squid, her ample breasts planted firmly in his face.

Meliodas did not shove her off immediately as I would have hoped, and for an instant I wondered whether he was leading Merlin and me on. If he was this willing to receive the attentions of a third girl, how important could I possibly be to him? Then his hands came up, and he slowly pushed Diane away until she released her hold on him. To my relief, his face expressed that he was decidedly unimpressed by her antics.

"Yo, Diane. How's the party for ya?" Before she responded, his eyes flickered around the room and caught sight of me. He lifted one hand in a little wave and smiled. "Hey there, Elizabeth! Good to see you here." I beamed, pleased to note that I didn't find his attention _nearly_ as anxiety-inducing as I had a mere two weeks ago.

"Hi, Meliodas. It's good to see you, too," I replied in a soft voice.

Even if I was no longer drowned by the feelings that acted up his presence, I was hardly immune to his charm; I suddenly felt a need to be doing something to occupy myself. I couldn't simply **abandon** an opportunity to talk to Meliodas, so I brought my cup up to my mouth and took a little drink.

The alcohol taste struck the back of my tongue like a sledgehammer, far and away overwhelming the sweetness of the punch. I managed to swallow, but the flavor left me suppressing my choking and sputtering. Meliodas laughed as he reached over to rub my upper arm a few times.

"Did Diane get'cha some of that spiked punch?" he asked. I nodded mutely, still trying not to cough or cry. He chuckled again. "I'm guessing she didn't tell you how strong it was, did she? Try taking smaller sips and you'll have a better time with it." Diane nodded at the same time I did. I could not think of anything to say in reply, and Meliodas turned to Diane in my quiet.

"Last time I saw him a few minutes ago, King was trying to save Helbram from getting into a drinking contest with some kid from Camelot. Think you should go help him out, or nah?"

Diane shook her head and flapped a hand dismissively. "I'm sure he'll be fine. King can really yell when he wants to, even if it's never very intimidating. He'll handle it." With nothing to contribute to the conversation, I sipped idly at my cup. Meliodas was right – as long as I took it in little drinks, the alcohol did not hit me like a slap across the face.

"Have you met anyone else so far tonight, Elizabeth?" Meliodas turned back to me to ask. I nearly choked on the mouthful of punch in my throat at the sudden change of topic, but I managed to nod and swallow my spluttering.

"Escanor and Elaine and King, too," I finally said when my throat cleared. Meliodas and Diane exchanged a glance and snickered.

"How was Escanor doing?" Diane asked. "He _never_ functions very well when he's drunk."

"Um… Merlin had to leave to take care of him, I think. He was crying. A lot."

My memory of the night after that conversation is a little blurred around the edges and missing a few details. I remember spending most of it with Diane, acting as her sidekick and something of a wingman as she social butterflied through the party.

My clearest recollection involves flinging open every single door of the upstairs hallway in search of a bathroom because I desperately needed to pee and felt extremely nauseous all at once. Most of the rooms were bedrooms, including one whose bed was occupied by two girls in the process of stripping each other down. Eventually I found the bathroom. Although I hovered with my face over the toilet bowl for several minutes, my nausea did not come to fruition, so I took care of my bladder and went back downstairs.

Only about fifteen minutes later I actually _did_ vomit, but in the bushes right beside the back porch instead of in a bathroom. Diane rubbed my back and apologized. I do not remember first encountering her again, but Merlin was with us by then. She held my hair back while I puked and brought napkins and water for me to clean myself up with. She murmured soothing words in my ear as I vomited and cried – things about keeping my beautiful hair clean and how strong I was not to have puked before now – but my memory was so hazy that I decided later I'd imagined it.

We left the party once my stomach had emptied itself. I couldn't find my cell phone to call Margaret or Veronica, and so Merlin insisted I let her take me home. She escorted me out, arm wrapped protectively around my waist, and bundled my limp form into her car. I guess she kept my address from the other evening, for she did not ask for directions. I was grateful for that – I don't know if I could have navigated very well.

I fell asleep on the road home, and I did not wake until morning sunlight poured in through my window, and I was safe in bed.


	6. Chapter 6: Some Sort of Epilogue

Author's Note: Hello, all! I have some unfortunate news about the future of this fanfiction. The development - or perhaps I should call it the _reveal_ \- of a sisterly relationship dynamic between Elizabeth and Merlin killed my enthusiasm for shipping them romantically. I don't want to be preachy and denounce the ship for everyone, but my personal preference is against it. As such, after a lot of thought on the matter, I have elected to discontinue writing _What She is Not_.

The **good** news is that I wrote a solid portion of the sixth chapter before deciding to stop and had the seventh and final chapter planned from the start. This chapter is the incomplete and unedited draft of the sixth chapter and the outline for the end.

Obviously, this is a meager offering compared to what the real thing would have been, but for the time being this is all I can publish. I apologize to those of you who were looking forward to the next chapters and the eventual conclusion to the story. As a fanfiction reader who knows the pain of an abandoned fic, I hope that this addendum provides some sort of closure to you all.

I will catch you on the flipside with my next fic!

Love,  
Trinity

* * *

I went from having a few friends at arm's-length to entering a circle of nearly a dozen enthusiastic companions. Something **clicked** at the party, I suppose because I met so many of Merlin and Meliodas' friends. I started to hang out with that group on a regular basis – Diane, Merlin, and Meliodas, in particular. We sat together at lunch, walked to class side-by-side, escorted people to their bus stops in the afternoons, and noticed when someone stayed home sick. Veronica could finally hang out with her own friends as well now that she did not feel a need to keep me company.

Something strange happened to my and Merlin's plan in those weeks. We did not stop by any means – if anything, it intensified as we both spent more time around Meliodas without him showing a preference for either of us. I thought, maybe we stopped being rivals, and started on the path to being friends. On the other hand, perhaps I simply became used to it and did not notice what did not petrify me.

One way or another, weeks slid by one after another in a blur of busy repetition as September became October, and October settled into its chilly late self. So it was that a Tuesday afternoon found me sitting down to lunch at the table with Merlin, Meliodas and the rest of the bunch.

" ** _Elizabeth_**!"

Diane grabbed my forearm the minute my tray was safely on the table and _yanked_ , pulling me into the chair heavily. Elaine waved at me from across the table, where she sat on her boyfriend's lap, and so did Escanor and Gowther. Merlin smiled and nodded in greeting; King didn't acknowledge me at all. Meliodas was too involved in an inaudible conversation with Ban, who no more than glanced at me when I sat down, to pause and say hello.

"Hi, Diane. Hello, everyone," I said. And then silence fell. Awkward silence.

Merlin was the one to eventually break the uncomfortable pause. She tilted her head to one side and spoke straight to me. "How was your weekend, Elizabeth, other than the party?"

"It was pretty normal," I replied truthfully. At least, it had been in the few hours after I recovered from my hangover Sunday evening. "I caught up on my homework and rested, for the most part. What about the rest of you?"

"Oh my goodness, you guys won't believe this." Diane jumped in so quickly and so eagerly that I guessed she'd been biting her tongue this whole time, waiting for someone to ask a question that would let her talk about this. A chorus of "What?" came from around the table, including from myself. I noticed that King also suddenly took interest in the conversation at the table. Diane gave a hearty sigh and said, with as much melodrama as she could possibly muster, "Melascula asked me to take over her shift _again_. And I agreed _. Again_. On Sunday afternoon, too, and she called me maybe three hours before she needed me to be there."

"Isn't this the third or fourth time she's done this recently?" Elaine asked. Diane nodded.

"Yeah, it is. It wouldn't be so bad, because I really do have fun working, but I feel like I never have any free time anymore."

"You can always tell her 'no'," King chimed in from the other side of the table. I nodded in agreement. Diane gave a loud sigh and slumped forward, her arms outstretched on the table and her face nestled in one elbow.

"I know, I know. I think I'm gonna have to start doing so or I'll seriously go insane."

"You'll still have time for game night tonight, though, yes?" Merlin asked. Diane's head popped up from the table to grin.

"Of course! Wouldn't miss it for the world. Speaking of game night…" Her whole body abruptly came upright and twisted around to face _me_. "We have game night every Tuesday, and this week it's over at my house. Wanna come play something with us tonight?"

I bit my lip to keep from beaming ear to ear – just like I couldn't show Meliodas the full extent of how I felt about him, I also could not respond too enthusiastically to Diane and the others and make them uncomfortable. Instead, I nodded just a little bit and said: "I would love to – but only if it's okay with everyone else, too. I don't want to intrude on something that is just for your group of friends."

"Dear Elizabeth," Escanor cried, gesturing along to his words like some sort of Ancient Greek poet, "even though I did not meet you properly until a handful of minutes ago, I already consider you among my friends! I strongly second Diane's invitation for you to join us."

Gowther lifted his hand up and put two fingers out in a peace sign toward me. "I agree as well. You are welcome to join us," he said. I glanced at King and Elaine, who both nodded, Elaine with a small smile.

"What are we talking about?" Meliodas suddenly jumped into the conversation, leaning heavily over the table on his elbows to be right in the middle of the action. I put my hand over my mouth to hide a giggle.

"Diane invited Elizabeth to join us at our game night," Merlin explained. She was the only person so far who hadn't given enthusiastic permission for me to join their get-together. A tingle washed over me as I realized that game night was probably one of her best opportunities to interact with Meliodas in a quieter setting – and here I was barging in to ruin it for her.

"Hey, that's great!" Meliodas cried. "I think she should totally come." He glanced to the side to share a subtle **look** with Merlin. She broke contact first and looked back at me with a little sideways smile.

"Yes, I agree. I think that's a wonderful idea."

Diane clapped her hands together. "It's settled then! I'll text you my address. _Now_ —" she leaned forward over the table toward Meliodas, so low that her breasts squished together beneath her body weight and her pigtails brushed the wood "—Meliodas has to tell us _all_ the details about his brother's wild escapades getting **arrested** this weekend. You skimped out on us yesterday."

 _Arrested?_ Maybe that was why he'd been so hesitant to talk about his family life when I asked before. He appeared reluctant to talk about them to _anyone_ , given that Diane's accusation that he dodged her questions yesterday.

Meliodas scratched his jaw with one finger and snickered, flashing all his teeth in a bright grin. "Guess I **did** , didn't I? Y'know what?" His gaze flickered to somewhere over our heads, and then he fell silent. The whole table leaned in further, waiting for him to speak. After a minute of nothing, Diane started to protest.

"Hey, are you going to tell us or not?"

"Mmmm, **_nah_**."

"What?!" Diane cried out. There was more to her sentence, but it was drowned out by the loud reverberating sound of our period bell. Lunch was over. Before I knew it, Meliodas had snagged his tray from the table and disappeared into the crowd of students headed back to their classrooms, and that was the last that I saw of him until late that evening at game night.

"Alriiight, my turn. Hm… Diane, truth or dare?"

"I don't trust you not to ask something indecent," she sniffed. "Definitely dare."

A wicked grin crossed Ban's face, and he let his tongue loll out from between his teeth. He sat up further in his seat and leaned over his knees. "Works for me. Diane, I dare you to go outside and do a lap dance for the pumpkin that's on the front step. An' make sure to give us a show while you're at it."

"Ex ** _cuse me?!_** "

" **You** wanted the daaare," he said as he slumped back into the cushions, chuckling. At my side, King jumped to his feet.

"Ban, you can't just—"

"Yeah, he can," Meliodas interrupted. "Those are the rules of the game. She chose dare; now she's gotta follow through. So." He paused to look at Diane and smirk. "Get to it."

Diane's look of outrage could've killed a man. Ban met it with a smug grin so wide it was cartoonish as he led the group in following Diane to the front door. King and I brought up the back; he stewed, looking more mortified on Diane's behalf than she was, while I covered my smile with the palm of my hand and tried not to annoy him by giggling along with everyone else.

The performance was magnificent. It barely lasted fifteen seconds, but in that time dropped _everyone_ to their knees in howls of laughter. Residual giggles trickled between us as we settled back down in the living room.

" _Well_ , now that _that's_ done," Diane huffed, fluffing one pigtail, "it's my turn to ask. Hmm, let's see… Elizabeth!" I stared at her, looking more or less like a frightened rabbit. "Truth or dare?"

My sisters and I had always played this game as a convoluted way to coax confessions out of one another. Our 'dares' more often than not took the form of: ' _I dare you to answer this question_ '. This group played on a different level, and as funny as it was to see Diane get frisky with a vegetable, I was **far** from ready to risk something like that for myself. That left me with only one option:

"Truth?"

"What's one of your kinks?" In the span of an instant, my skin flushed the darkest shade it's ever been. I swear I turned _purple_.

"Do you mean… sexual...?" My voice came out as a squeak, choked thin by the sudden constriction of my throat. Diane nodded.

"Love and kindness? And…" I spoke soft, so soft that maybe they wouldn't hear me and let me off the hook. _Please don't hear me please don't hear me please don'thearme—_ "I'd… think I'd like to try blindfolds…?"

The room was silent. They **definitely** heard me. Everyone recovered from their shock and started shouting all at once.

"Holy _shit_!"

"Oh my gosh, Elizabeth!"

"No freakin' **way**. No way!"

 _Eli panics a little bit in the next round and chooses dare. The dare is to kiss somebody._

I stood up and shimmied around the coffee table to sit next to Merlin on the couch.

It was the first time in my life that I _didn't_ overthink something.

Her lips were soft against mine, and they parted perfectly to let me in between them. My heart pounded so quickly in my chest that its beating blurred into a sustained thrumming, its ecstatic energy turning my very bones into a trembling mush. The entire rest of the world drowned in the periphery as all my senses zeroed in on this one sensation of kissing Merlin.

. . . . . . .

 _I told Veronica about everything that happened tonight. I could've guessed by the way everyone reacted that I bungled it badly, but I guess some part of me wanted to know just how bad so that I can torture myself appropriately. Veronica said, "You fucked up majorly, Eli." But she said it with a lot more sighing and chagrin and veiled disappointment than I can show just by writing it out._

 _I hate myself for being so so stupid. What if I've completely destroyed the friendship I had with Diane and the rest of the group? They were all so kind and welcomed me into their group, and all I did was make it awkward for everyone as soon as they invited me to do more than be around them at school._

 _Even if I haven't ruined everything good I was starting to have with them, I am sure that Merlin will not want much to do with me from here on out. I trashed any sort of possible friendship we might have maybe eventually had. At least that one, I know for sure. I lost Meliodas, too. I can never face him again if he thinks I'd let Merlin steal me away at any moment. I should have realized from the start that this would turn out like a love potion in a fairy tale. Haven't I known since I could first read that plots to trick another person into love always backfire? Because it does. Always._

* * *

 ** _PART SEVEN_**

In the next couple days, Eli chooses not to sit at the sins' table and instead occupies herself doing origami. She saw it in Merlin's room and it caught her attention. As she folds paper, she muses to herself about how difficult it is, and how impressive it is that Merlin did so much of it. Now she's thinking about Merlin again and is still bummed about ruining their relationship, so she stops with the paper crafting. A few minutes later, she needs to use the restroom.

On her way down the hall to the bathroom, she hears excited whispers. She knows that gossip and this sort of surreptitious eavesdropping aren't the greatest, but she is a high school teenager and can't stay away. Her interest is piqued even deeper when she hears what might've been her name.

When she sticks her head around the corner, she is startled to see Merlin and Meliodas speaking. speaking about _her_. Merlin says something that can be interpreted negatively, and Eli's feelings are deeply hurt. Meliodas notices her eavesdropping and draws Merlin's attention to her presence, but before Merlin can say anything to reconcile or repair the damage, Elizabeth flees.

Elizabeth retreats from the sins even further, specifically ignoring or dodging Diane, Escanor, and eventually even King's attempts (done only on Diane's behalf) to catch her attention. It becomes so bad that she takes to eating lunch in the bathrooms, much to Veronica's frustration and Margaret's concern.

Veronica forces Elizabeth to sit down with her and explain her behavior. After hearing the tale, she gently introduces the idea that Elizabeth's feelings for Merlin may be more than platonic.

"Eli… Have you ever considered whether the way you feel about Merlin and all this isn't the way you'd feel about just a friend?"

Eli denies this fairly vehemently, but the seed of the thought is planted in her now.

The day after, Veronica is so fed up with this reclusiveness that she tracks Eli down during lunch one day and physically drags her back to their usual table. Even though she resists, Veronica forces her to remain with her. She does this a few days in a row. Meanwhile, Eli talks through a lot of internal dialogue working through her feelings about Merlin. She eventually comes to the conclusion that yeah… she probably does feel something romantic or sexual toward her. Maybe. Possibly. A little bit kinda. However, she resolves not to acknowledge it.

Then Veronica has to go get milk or ketchup or something and leaves Eli alone at the table, giving her a firm command to stay put as she goes. A moment later, Elizabeth looks up at the sound of a throat being cleared. Just like at the beginning, Merlin is standing over her, although this time she is flanked by all seven Sins, including Meliodas. Elizabeth herself notices that her attention goes straight to and stays on Merlin rather than Meliodas. Her heart leaped at the thought of _Merlin_ caring enough to come get her, not Meliodas. And then she admits to herself what's been going on, and how she feels.

Merlin and the Sins sit down. At first, Elizabeth tries to apologize for kissing her, but Merlin laughs it off and confesses that she liked it. They then both confess the mutual attraction they share. Elizabeth, pink as a grapefruit, awkwardly asks Merlin out on a date. Merlin accepts. The end!


End file.
